Introduction

Does science lead us down a road that ends in the naturalistic explanation of
everything we see? In the nineteenth century, it certainly looked as though
science was going in that direction. The "God of the gaps" was finding
himself in a narrower and narrower niche. However, 20th century and
now 21st century science is leading us back down the road of design -
not from a lack of scientific explanation, but from scientific
explanation that requires an appeal to the extremely unlikely - something that
science does not deal well with. As a result of the recent evidence in support
of design, many scientists now believe in God. According to a recent article:

"I was reminded of this a few months ago when I saw a survey in the
journal Nature. It revealed that 40% of American physicists, biologists
and mathematicians believe in God--and not just some metaphysical abstraction,
but a deity who takes an active interest in our affairs and hears our prayers:
the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob."(1)

The degree to which the constants of physics must match a precise criteria is
such that a number of agnostic scientists have concluded that there is some sort
of "supernatural plan" or "Agency" behind it. Here is what
they say:

The quotes

Fred Hoyle (British astrophysicist): "A common sense
interpretation of the facts suggests that a superintellect has monkeyed with
physics, as well as with chemistry and biology, and that there are no blind
forces worth speaking about in nature. The numbers one calculates from the facts
seem to me so overwhelming as to put this conclusion almost beyond
question." (2)

George Ellis (British astrophysicist): "Amazing fine
tuning occurs in the laws that make this [complexity] possible. Realization of
the complexity of what is accomplished makes it very difficult not to use the
word 'miraculous' without taking a stand as to the ontological status of the
word." (3)

Paul Davies (British astrophysicist): "There is for me
powerful evidence that there is something going on behind it all....It seems as
though somebody has fine-tuned nature’s numbers to make the Universe....The
impression of design is overwhelming". (4)

Paul Davies: "The laws [of physics] ... seem to be the product of
exceedingly ingenious design... The universe must have a purpose". (5)

Alan Sandage (winner of the Crawford prize in astronomy): "I find
it quite improbable that such order came out of chaos. There has to be some
organizing principle. God to me is a mystery but is the explanation for the
miracle of existence, why there is something instead of nothing." (6)

John O'Keefe (astronomer at NASA): "We are, by astronomical
standards, a pampered, cosseted, cherished group of creatures.. .. If the
Universe had not been made with the most exacting precision we could never have
come into existence. It is my view that these circumstances indicate the
universe was created for man to live in." (7)

George Greenstein (astronomer): "As we survey all the
evidence, the thought insistently arises that some supernatural agency - or,
rather, Agency - must be involved. Is it possible that suddenly, without
intending to, we have stumbled upon scientific proof of the existence of a
Supreme Being? Was it God who stepped in and so providentially crafted the
cosmos for our benefit?" (8)

Arthur Eddington (astrophysicist): "The idea of a universal mind
or Logos would be, I think, a fairly plausible inference from the present state
of scientific theory." (9)

Arno Penzias (Nobel prize in physics): "Astronomy leads us to a
unique event, a universe which was created out of nothing, one with the very
delicate balance needed to provide exactly the conditions required to permit
life, and one which has an underlying (one might say 'supernatural') plan."
(10)

Roger Penrose (mathematician and author): "I would say the
universe has a purpose. It's not there just somehow by chance." (11)

Tony Rothman (physicist): "When confronted with the order and
beauty of the universe and the strange coincidences of nature, it's very
tempting to take the leap of faith from science into religion. I am sure many
physicists want to. I only wish they would admit it." (12)

Vera Kistiakowsky (MIT physicist): "The exquisite order displayed
by our scientific understanding of the physical world calls for the
divine." (13)

Robert Jastrow (self-proclaimed agnostic): "For the scientist who
has lived by his faith in the power of reason, the story ends like a bad dream.
He has scaled the mountains of ignorance; he is about to conquer the highest
peak; as he pulls himself over the final rock, he is greeted by a band of
theologians who have been sitting there for centuries." (14)

Stephen Hawking (British astrophysicist): "Then we shall…
be able to take part in the discussion of the question of why it is that we and
the universe exist. If we find the answer to that, it would be the ultimate
triumph of human reason - for then we would know the mind of God." (15)

Frank Tipler (Professor of Mathematical Physics): "When I began
my career as a cosmologist some twenty years ago, I was a convinced atheist. I
never in my wildest dreams imagined that one day I would be writing a book
purporting to show that the central claims of Judeo-Christian theology are in
fact true, that these claims are straightforward deductions of the laws of
physics as we now understand them. I have been forced into these conclusions by
the inexorable logic of my own special branch of physics." (16)
Note: Tipler since has actually converted to Christianity, hence his latest
book,
The Physics of Christianity.

Alexander Polyakov (Soviet mathematician): "We know that nature
is described by the best of all possible mathematics because God created
it."(17)

Ed Harrison (cosmologist): "Here is the cosmological proof of the
existence of God – the design argument of Paley – updated and refurbished.
The fine tuning of the universe provides prima facie evidence of deistic design.
Take your choice: blind chance that requires multitudes of universes or design
that requires only one.... Many scientists, when they admit their views, incline
toward the teleological or design argument." (18)

Edward Milne (British cosmologist): "As to the cause of the
Universe, in context of expansion, that is left for the reader to insert, but
our picture is incomplete without Him [God]." (19)

Barry Parker (cosmologist): "Who created these laws? There is no
question but that a God will always be needed." (20)

Drs. Zehavi, and Dekel (cosmologists): "This type of universe,
however, seems to require a degree of fine tuning of the initial conditions that
is in apparent conflict with 'common wisdom'." (21)

Arthur L. Schawlow (Professor of Physics at Stanford University, 1981
Nobel Prize in physics): "It seems to me that when confronted with the
marvels of life and the universe, one must ask why and not just how. The only
possible answers are religious. . . . I find a need for God in the universe and
in my own life." (22)

Henry "Fritz" Schaefer (Graham Perdue Professor of Chemistry and
director of the Center for Computational Quantum Chemistry at the University of
Georgia): "The significance and joy in my science comes in those
occasional moments of discovering something new and saying to myself, 'So that's
how God did it.' My goal is to understand a little corner of God's plan." (23)

Wernher von Braun (Pioneer rocket engineer) "I find it as
difficult to understand a scientist who does not acknowledge the presence of a
superior rationality behind the existence of the universe as it is to comprehend
a theologian who would deny the advances of science." (24)

Carl Woese (microbiologist from the University of Illinois) "Life
in Universe - rare or unique? I walk both sides of that street. One day I can
say that given the 100 billion stars in our galaxy and the 100 billion or more
galaxies, there have to be some planets that formed and evolved in ways very,
very like the Earth has, and so would contain microbial life at least. There are
other days when I say that the anthropic principal, which makes this universe a
special one out of an uncountably large number of universes, may not apply only
to that aspect of nature we define in the realm of physics, but may extend to
chemistry and biology. In that case life on Earth could be entirely
unique." (25)

Antony Flew (Professor of Philosophy, former atheist, author, and debater)
"It now seems to me that the findings of
more than fifty years of Deoxyribonucleic acid: the chemical inside the nucleus of a cell that carries the genetic instructions for making living organisms.DNA research have provided materials for a new and
enormously powerful argument to design." (26)

Frank Tipler (Professor of Mathematical Physics): "From the
perspective of the latest physical theories, Christianity is not a mere
religion, but an experimentally testable science." (27)

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